Boots put kick into Dh3m charity auction

James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent

• Last Updated: November 24. 2009 10:40PM UAE / November 24. 2009 6:40PM GMT

The boots worn by the UAE midfielder Khalid Mubarak at a magical moment for Emirati football were among items that raised more than US$900,000 (Dh3.16 million) to fund sport for Palestinian children during a royal charity auction in Dubai.

Mubarak’s boots, which he wore while scoring against Germany in the 1990 World Cup, sold for Dh700,000 in an elegant fund-raiser hosted by Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein at Atlantis The Palm on Sunday.

Mubarak scored the country’s first and only goal in a World Cup finals in the UAE’s appearance in Italy 1990. The UAE eventually fell to a 5-1 defeat against Germany.

A signed match T-shirt and photograph of the tennis ace Roger Federer netted Dh120,000 and the “golden ball” medal awarded to the former UAE football captain and striker Adnan al Talyani at the 1996 Asian Cup raised a further Dh650,000.

The biggest earner was a makeshift football made from paper, plastic bags and string in a Nairobi slum, signed by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, which sold for Dh750,000.

“This evening reaffirms the renowned generosity of the people of the UAE,” said Princess Haya, who hosted the auction with her husband, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The sale of memorabilia, artworks and tickets to the fund-raiser will finance sport projects in the developing world, particularly those helping Palestinian children, where UN-run football matches improve health and promote peace.

The auction attracted luminaries including Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health, and the UN’s sports chief Wilfried Lemke, who was visiting Dubai to take part in a World Economic Forum summit.

jreinl@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting from Amith Passela